Rural Ruins: 20 Eerie Images of Abandonments

In the last century, the human population has become increasingly urban, concentrating in city centers and suburbs. As younger generations leave and small farms are displaced by commercial agribusiness, rural properties fall into ruin – barns sagging, stables rotting, farmhouses standing like specters of the past. Because of their isolation, these structures are less likely than their urban counterparts to be home to squatters, or fall prey to vandals, so they can have the feel of time capsules. Here are 20 striking photographs of rural abandonments all over Europe, Britain and the Americas.

Abandoned Orphanage, France

A photographer calling himself ‘boklm’ stumbled upon this abandoned orphanage in a small village to the south of Paris. The facility seems to have closed sometime around 1990. He says, “We saw stables, a barn half collapsed, a tennis court, some offices, small houses, a small church, something like a restaurant or canteen, kitchens, a few other buildings with rooms.”